274 



Length 7'5 ; tail 34 ; wing 3-5 ; tarsus '75 ; bill from gape '75. 



'Distribution. Sind ; Cutch ; Guzerat ; Rajputana ; the Punjab ; 

 the N."W. Provinces down to Etawah ; Central India as far east as 

 Jhansi, Saugor, and Hoshangabad. This bird extends westward 

 into Persia. 



Habits, fyc. Breeds from May to August, constructing a neat 

 cup of vegetable fibres in bushes, and laying three or four eggs, 

 which are similar to those of M. leucoyenys, and measure '83 by -64. 



286. Molpastes humii. Hume's White-eared Bulbul. 



Coloration. Eesembles M. leucotis. Differs in having the crest 

 much longer and the under tail-coverts sulphur-yellow. 

 Bill, legs, and feet black ; iris brown (Hume). 

 Length 8 ; tail 3*4 ; wing 3*7 ; tarsus -75 ; bill from gape -75. 



Fig. 87. Head of M. humii. 



Amongst a large series of M. leucotis in the British Museum, I 

 detected one specimen which differed remarkably from all the others 

 in the colour of its under tail-coverts, and on further examining it 

 I found that it had a much longer crest than the others. M. leu- 

 cotis is remarkably constant in having saffron-yellow coverts and a 

 short bushy crest. I have therefore no hesitation in separating 

 M. humii, and naming it after Hume, who procured the only spe- 

 cimen I have been able to examine at Jalalpoor near Jhelura, in 

 the Punjab, in 1871. From M. leucogenys it differs, among other 

 things, in having the crest much shorter and of a different shape 

 and colour. 



Genus XANTHIXUS, n. gen. 



I institute this genus for the reception of X. flavescms, a Bulbul 

 which differs from all its near allies in the very decided graduation 

 of its tail, the outer feather of which falls short of the tail by a 

 distance equal in length to the tarsus. The crest resembles in 

 many respects that of Hemixus. The wing is blunt, as in 

 Molpastes. 



